Monday, January 27, 2020

Product Success Is Not A Reliable Indicator Business Essay

Product Success Is Not A Reliable Indicator Business Essay The report highlights the importance of different factors that contribute to the success of a company and strengthens its foundation. It draws insight on product success that is given an important consideration in terms of companys future growth and revenue generation. It is an essential pre-requisite for a companys strength. It contribution is vital towards the success of a company but it is not considered as a reliable indicator as various other factors play a greater and crucial role in determining companys strength. The strength of a company lies in those indicators which have the power to govern change and sustain its competitive advantage in the long run. There are various indicators which have been changing with the course of time and changing needs of business environment. These indicators are viewed different by various scholars. Thus, enriching there interaction in a company. The term reliability is the measure of consistency of different indicators that are devised in a company structure to overcome competitive threats and have a grab on opportunities. It can be correlated to business acumen and its knowledge. A great deal of business success depends on generating new knowledge and on having the capabilities to react quickly and intelligently to this new knowledge . . . (Richard Rumelt, 1996). The products of a company play a significant role in generation of revenue but the essential indicators are the factors leading to the creation of the product in accordance with the market demand and consumer needs. The firm specific knowledge plays a crucial role in exploiting the available resources to have a competitive advantage and contribute to companys strength. An essential feature of strategy or more specifically innovation strategy should be directed towards accumulation of such firm specific knowledge. Ives et al. (1998), for instance, trace the history of knowledge management back to the ancient Sumerian civilization where cuneiform archives served to record knowledge for future generations. Modern management tends to focus on controlling, centralising and standardising knowledge which reduces the marginal cost of knowledge by economies of scale. It is argued whether knowledge management represents an extension or departure from these tendencies. The conversion of tacit into explicit knowledge and storing it is lined up with such tendencies. The new technology integrates knowledge in the organisation. It opens up new opportunities for knowledge creation and transfer beyond the more traditional means of face-to-face interaction, mentoring, job rotation and staff development (Alavi and Leidner, 1997). IBMs Larry Prusak says, knowledge is both an asset and a process of acting knowledgeable. Knowledge management is the process of continually managing knowledge of all kinds to meet existing and emerging needs, to identify and exploit existing and acquired knowledge assets and to develop new opportunities (Quintas et al., 1997). The knowledge management programmes have coheren ce across a number of dimensions, including organisational structure and culture, people aspects, process and technology (Quintas et al., 1997 p387). Harry Scarbrough (1998) points that managing knowledge is not easy as it are often sticky and tacit. It cant be extracted from its context. He raises human relation issues such as staff will resist being treated as a moveable asset. It is further argued that knowledge itself appears in a number of different guises according to context: intellectual capital (e.g. Bontis, 1998; Roos et al, 1998); knowledge assets (Boisot, 1998; Teece, 1998); workplace and organisational capital (Adler and Cole, 1993; Argyris, 1992). The formulation of an innovation strategy having the ability to cope up with an external environment that is considered to be complex and ever changing, with consequent uncertainty about present and future advancements in technology, competition challenges and market demands may prove to strengthen companys business tactics in the long run. It is argued that the distinction between approaches i.e. choice and implementation breaks down when firms decision are made in complex and fast changing environments. The rational approach to innovative strategies dominance is believed to be less effective than the incremental approach which lays emphasis on changing needs in the light of new information, learning and understanding that is consciously obtained. The nature of the competitive threats and opportunities that emerge from advances in technology rightly stress the importance of developing and protecting firm-specific technology in order to enable firms to enable themselves against the c ompetition (Porter, 1980). It is argued that Porters approach underestimates the power of technology to change the course of the competion by transforming industrial structures and overestimates the organisational competencies to exploit them. It is very difficult (but not impossible e.g. the case of Nokia) for a manufacturing traditional textiles to have an innovation strategy to develop and make computers (Patel, P. and Pavitt, K., 1998). The product success is not a reliable indicator because when the product enters the market its reliability and validity depends on the market forces and competition and both of them are based on uncertainties. A firms technological innovation requires complementary assets to produce and deliver new products and services. Prior commercialisation activities require and enable firms to build such complementarities (Teece, 1986b). New products and processes can either enhance or destroy the value of such assets (Tushman et al., 1986). For example: IBMs direct sales increased with the development of computers, while disk brakes were rendered useless as auto industries invested in drum brakes. Further ample evidences are available for a given type of competence (e.g. quality) which can be supported or manufactured by different routines and combination of skills. Garvin (1998) and Clark and Fujimoto (1991) studies both indicate that there was no one formula for achieving either high quality or high product development process. There is a firm competition between firms on the basis of product design, quality, process efficiency and other attributes. It is pointed that firms are constantly seeking to create new combination, and rivals are continuously attempting to improve their competencies or to imitate the competence of their most qualified competitors (Schumpeter, 1934). Such processes drive the destruction of product creativity. The focus is on the dynamic capabilities of firms which provides a coherent framework to integrate existing and empirical knowledge, and facilitate prescription (Teece, D. and Pisano,G., 1994). What depicts the strength of a company in global market is not its products success but demonstration of firms timely responsiveness and rapid and flexible product innovation, integration of management capabilities to effectively coordinate and redeploy internal and external competences. It is offered as an emerging paradigm of a business firm. It tries to facilitate a prescription by integration of existing conceptual and empirical knowledge. It is an indicator which provides competitive advantage to firm rooted in their high performance routines, processes and continued by history. They are built as they cant be brought from a market place. The very essence of capabilities/competencies is that they cant be readily assembled through markets (Teece, 1982, 1986a; Kogut and Zander, 1992). Resear chers (Doz and Shuen, 1989; Mody, 1990) have pointed that collaboration and partnership can be vehicles for new organisational learning, helping firms to recognize dysfunctional routines, and preventing strategic blind spots. This concept of dynamic capabilities opens the door to inter-organisational learning. Leonard Barton (1992) finds that the organisational core capabilities can easily create core rigidities. That is, opportunity for learning will be close in to previous activities and thus will be transaction and production specific (Teece, 1988). Porter (1980) describes two market strategies: innovation leadership and innovation followership. The initial one is concerned with those firms which attempt to introduce a new product to gain a technological lead and temporary monopoly profits whereas the latter tries to initiate the market pioneer by reverse engineering. It is argued that the survival and growth in the firms succeed or fail in their innovations, whether offensive or defensive. For a firm to survive and grow in competition, it must be capable of adapting its technologically based strategy to this competition. The introduction of a new product in any industry poses a threat to older products and processes by turning them obsolete or uneconomic. It has been inferred that core competencies play a vital role in companys strength. Managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994).In the long run competitiveness derives from an ability to build at lower cost and more speedily than competitors, the core competencies that spawn unanticipated products. The real sources of competitive advantage are to be found in managements ability to consolidate corporate wide technologies and production skills into competencies that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities(Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). The validity of this statement still holds its firm position in the mainstay thinking of todays firms. Core competence leads to the harmonisation of a number of related skills which starts building up an intelligent organisation. The competence base should be strong and should be managed properly. It should not be overlo oked. The core product of a company is the crux of an end product.For example: Cannon has 84% share in laser printer engines but miniscule laser printer share.It has built its core competence in engines rather than printers through continuous feedback from customers. It has been able to manage low risk, low cost and reduction in lead time by focusing on its competencies. In conclusion, a well-crafted strategy can lead a company to be a pioneer firm in the market if it possesses the ability to convert intellectual leadership into market leadership and be ahead of their rivals. The foresight of the rising opportunities plays a vital role in gaining a competitive advantage. Core competence and dynamic capabilities holds the key to exploit opportunities and are intriguing assets which are built with time. By getting hold of such opportunities a company can capture royalties, market reputation, customer lock-in, vast distribution network and set or define rules for other companies to compete, as Sony did in portable audio products and Intel has done in microprocessors. The key to innovation is stability.The focus of a company should be on organisational stewardship and stability rather than short-term profit fixation which can be gained from the success of one product.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Instructional Communication Essay

Instructional Communication Instructional Communication can be best explained as the transfer of information in a teaching environment. There are a lot of aspects that is associated with Instructional Communication. The contexts that are most relevant to my career are teacher to teacher communication, teacher to student communication, comprehension of information, and technology used in the setting. These four aspects make up my career as a public affairs instructor for the Department of Defense. Instructional communication is very important to the field of communication. Instructional communication is implemented everyday all around the world. It is implemented in schools and in job settings. This type of communication is how we relate information to new people on the job or students in a classroom. In order to determine the depth of comprehension we have to analyze formal and summative assessments of the students. During the course that I instruct, we also use technology to convey information as well as have the students to use technology to complete projects that are due during the course. Instructional communication has several different contexts located within it. I feel that the most important context would be teacher to student communication. It is extremely important as a teacher or an instructor to be able to convey the information to your audience and them be able to comprehend what you are talking about. It is also very important that students ask questions or talk about the material that is being covered to show understanding. According to Karaduz, (Karaduz, 2010) â€Å"An important part of instructional services involves giving messages to students about how they should learn and become involved in the learning process, giving those stimuli for reinforcement, identifying the gaps in their learning, and amending these gaps. An effective instructional process thus requires strong communication skills along every step. It is through language that a healthy communication is established, student interest is aroused, and ways of comprehending, practicing and retaining information are clarified. Karaduz said a lot in these few sentences. He talked about how important communication is between student and teachers. What good do teachers do when the students cannot understand the teacher’s message? Teacher and student communication is so important in any instructional setting. The next most important part of instructional communication is teacher to teacher communication. It is handy to have colleagues that you can ask questions or get advice about certain criteria. I have worked as a public affairs person for the last seven years. Of that seven years 2 ? of them has been in a combat area. In this intense atmosphere I have learned pretty much everything that I teach my students at the Defense Information School. A lot of times other instructors come to me for information on what should happen in a certain situation in a combat area. I think that teacher to teacher communication is extremely valuable and you should take a advantage of it. According to Lance (Lance, 2010), â€Å"when administrators value collaboration between teacher-librarians and classroom teachers and when teacher-librarians and their classroom colleagues report that it happens more frequently, students are more likely to master ICT standards and more likely to earn advanced scores on state reading and language arts tests. † This study linked collaboration between faculty and students scores. Lance showed that when faculty collaborated on instructional information and objectives the student’s scores went up on formal assessments. Another context of instructional communication is comprehension assessment. As an instructor I have to assess the students learning to see if they have learned the specific objectives to move on to the next part of the course. If students do not meet those objectives then they fail and are recycled to another program. I use different kinds of assessments to check the depth of their knowledge of the material. The students have written assignments, formal assessments, and a Field Training Exercise (FTX). The students also have time to redo any work that they have failed in order to receive a better grade. I provide feedback within two days of the after the due date of the assignment. I provide feedback and remedial for any student that is deemed in need or feels that they need the extra help. Since we try to communicate very well with the students our fail rate is between 2 to 4% each course. Technology is the last item that is very important to instructional communication. â€Å"Based on the immersive interface that underlies virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, virtual environments allow the enactment of complex situations with tacit clues, imulation of scientific instruments, virtual experimentation, simulated collaboration in a team, and adaptive responses to students’ choice—all captured and recorded in data streams (Clarke-Midura, 2010),† according to Jody Clarke-Midura and Chris Dede. In this century technology has advanced so much. We have social media sites, PowerPoint presentations, email, and other was to communicate in and out of t he classroom. I learned that when you do not have proper communication things tend to follow apart.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Behaviour in the Classroom Essay

Everybody shall: use properly and carefully the school facilities, classrooms, wood and metalwork, fittings, furniture and things made available to us, as well as ours and our teacher’s and class-mates’, at all times; and bring to class the material needed (coursebooks, hand-outs, homework done, white sheets of paper, a plastic folder and something to write with) and have it out on the desk, ready to start working, as soon as the teacher goes into the classroom. No other material shall be on or in the desk. If you forgot to bring in any of the things needed, you must ask someone to share hers with you before the teacher gets in. Those who aren’t ready and haven’t done their homework are given a written assignment and dismissed. If the majority haven’t done it, they will do it on their own and expect a question about it on the next exam. PARTICIPANTS will either – speak, when the teacher chairing the meeting asks to do so, after raising one’s hand up, doing it in a polite way (not judging -‘That is .. ‘-, but expressing personal reactions and reasons -‘I agree/disagree with that opinion because †¦ ‘-), in a low voice, without fear nor shame, to truly (not hiding one’s contradictions, handicaps and mistakes and getting rid of the masks and disguises) ask for clarification or say something that has to do with the matter dealt with (relevant) as clearly and briefly as possible, based on the notes taken while listening; – be silent (mouths closed), listening actively (ears open, eyes looking to the person speaking or the text read and with the mind focused on understanding what it is being said and, then, thinking further meanings of it like: Do I agree? What are the reasons that base it? Does it explain anything? What details and nuances should be taken into account? Can I think of an example? ) and taking notes on the interesting ideas said and on one’s own doubts, questions and visions; – be with one’s hand up and silently miming or gesturing the answer to a question made; or – nod to show agreement with the person speaking. In PAIR & GROUP work, voices shall lower & everybody will speak taking turns clockwise.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Analysis Of The Poem The Great Gatsby By F. Scott...

Montresor moved at a brisk pace through the dark catacombs, looking back periodically. He had the creeping feeling that, although obviously impossible, someone – or something – was following him. He shook the idea from his head; â€Å"Impossible!† he said, trying to convince himself. Even so, he still felt that odd feeling on the back of his neck. As he hurried through the damp and foreboding passageways, he replayed the evening’s events in his mind. As he recalled Fortunato’s desperate, yet futile, screams and pleadings, he felt a slight twinge of†¦regret? â€Å"No, no,† Montresor mumbled to himself. â€Å"’A man’s character is his fate.† He took in a shaky breath as he walked up the vault’s staircase. â€Å"The fool brought it upon himself.† He paused at the top, straining his ears. â€Å"Is that a cry I hear?† he muttered. ‘Or just my damned conscience?’ he finished, silently. Again, he shook the thought from his head, cautiously making his way through the palazzo; he needed to be sure that his servants had disobeyed. He let out a sigh of relief when the entrance was in sight. With a nervous smile, he pushed open the doors to his home. â€Å"Nemo me impune lacessit.† he whispered triumphantly, emerging onto the street. more Three days later, there is a buzz about town; the Lady Fortunato had reported that her lover had gone missing without a trace. Considering his drinking habits, one would not think twice if he were to be gone for one night, but three(with no word from him!) was simply unprecedented.Show MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby By F. Fitzgerald1302 Words   |  6 Pagestwo texts â€Å"The Great Gatsby† (Scott F. Fitzgerald), and the acclaimed poem â€Å"19† (W. H. Auden), as proven by the use of green light, the role of religion and strong imagery in society and analysis of the lives of those both lavished alongside those who possess only their pity for one’s self. Firstly, Green is represented in The Great Gatsby as a symbol of Gatsby’s unacquainted love for Daisy and its meaning of hope considering it is where she resides at the time. To Gatsby the green lightRead More Hemingway and Fitzgerald Essay1423 Words   |  6 PagesHemingway and Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the parties of one of the most famously infamous relationships in literary history met for the first time in late April 1925 at The Dingo Bar, a Paris hangout for the bohemian set. In his novel A Moveable Feast (published posthumously) Hemingway describes his first impressions of Fitzgerald: â€Å"The first time I ever met Scott Fitzgerald a very strange thing happened. Many strange things happened with Scott, but thisRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby2385 Words   |  10 Pageswrite because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say, F. Scott Fitzgerald (F. Scott Fitzgerald Quote- Brainy Quote). Not only did he write well written novels and short stories, he wrote them in such a way to inspire and entertain his generation and future generations. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a leading author in America s Jazz age- the twenties. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Edward, was an unsuccessfulRead MoreAnalysis Of Walt Whitman s I Hear America Poem1314 Words   |  6 Pagesof Independence, Walt Whitman s I Hear America poem, and argumentative essays, like out The Raven analysis. We also gave speeches– that was the hardest for me, in my previous English classes, none of them made me go in front of the class and present–, made infograph, and even a multigenre project. We also can’t forget the books we’ve read in class, like poems from Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, and novels from F. Scott Fitzgerald, and we can’t forget novella like Of Mice and MenRead MoreThe Passage of Time and Life in The Swimmer, by John Cheever2346 Words   |  10 Pagessupposedly takes place in the course of one single day. The physical setting of the story, however, seems to indicate a passage of seasonal time. Cheever uses t his transition as a subliminal hint toward the main point of the story. In Bloom’s literary analysis on â€Å"The Swimmer,† the critic provides more insight: But there is even a longer time that elapses, because as Neddy swims through the seasons of the year, he is also swimming through the seasons of his own life. Bloom’s critique, although briefRead MoreStudy Guide Literary Terms7657 Words   |  31 Pages AP Literary and Rhetorical Terms 1. 2. alliteration- Used for poetic effect, a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group. The following line from Robert Frosts poem Acquainted with the Night provides us with an example of alliteration,: I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet. The repetition of the s sound creates a sense of quiet, reinforcing the meaning of the line 3. allegory – Where every aspect of a story is representative, usually symbolic